KOCHI: While Kerala debates the role of construction activities taken up for the tunnel road project in the landslip, environmentalists said concerns raised over the terrain’s vulnerability were ignored. The Wayanad Nature Protection Council has already launched a protest demanding halt of construction work.
Unscientific infrastructure projects, removal of natural vegetation, monoculture plantation and adverse impact of rapid urbanisation like filling of wetlands and water bodies have exacerbated Wayanad’s landslide vulnerability, experts said. “We have forgotten the Chooralmala-Mundakkai landslide very fast. Wayanad with its high-elevation hills and steep slopes is highly prone to landslides.
Heavy rain during monsoon makes it more vulnerable,” said National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) professor emeritus K K Ramachandran. He said studies by NCESS identified hill ranges along Wayanad’s northwestern and southwestern borders as potentially critical areas.
“We have to record the potentially critical zones in high-resolution map and conduct landslide hazard microzonation for effective landslide prevention and mitigation,” he said.
After identifying vulnerable areas, people have to be cautioned against taking up development work in critical zones, Ramachandran said, adding, “The government should declare the area as buffer zone and issue a forewarning against disturbing the topography.”
Stressing on the need for public awareness on the vulnerability of the terrain, earth scientist Subhash Chandra Bose said Kerala needs to launch a geo-literacy drive.
“Such literacy must encompass knowledge of water, soil, biodiversity, wetlands, agriculture, energy, public health, disaster management, and other components of the natural environment. Geo-literacy is not an isolated field of knowledge. Only a society that understands its land, water, ecosystems and natural processes can ensure environmental security and sustainable development,” he said.